No Free Rides
by Spirals95
Summary: #32 of the Techorse series. When Apple Bloom receives an offer to take her friends to the amusement park outside Manehattan for free, it seems way too good to be true. Will that turn out to be the case?


No Free Rides

Techorse Series: #32

By Spirals 95

* * *

Apple Bloom had a bright smile on her face as she placed the very last bucket of fresh apples from that particular acre of the farm into the back of the family wooden cart. The last tree cleared on that piece of the farm meant she could finally take a break from helping her siblings out and go and play with her friends.

"Ahm off to the clubhouse Applejack." she said happily, trotting away from the cart, "I'll be home in time for supper."

Applejack turned around from in front of the cart and called back, "Could ya please get the mail before ya go, Apple Bloom?"

"Sure." she answered, heading down the dirt path in the middle of the farm to reach the small white mailbox out front.

Opening the door on the mailbox with a hoof, Apple Bloom thought she saw a letter at the back, but she couldn't get her head in due to her large bow blocking entry. She grunted as she stood up on her small hind legs, and reached into the mailbox as far as she could to try and knock the letter out. It dropped out of the mailbox and fluttered around in the cool breeze slightly before resting on the dirt path. Apple Bloom picked up the letter and noticed that it was addressed to "The Apples".

"Well, ahm one of the Apples..." smirked the filly, making sure Applejack couldn't see her. Apple Bloom ripped off the edge of the white letter with her teeth, and looked at the contents. Her eyes grew wide with excitement and she gasped, quickly picking up the letter and rushing the contents into her home.

"Applejack, look!" she said, running into her house and throwing the letter up on the wooden table where her sister was seated.

Applejack's green eyes tracked the thrown mail as it landed on the table and spilled what was inside. A total of 9 red colored tickets marked "Admit One", each good for a free day at a carnival featured in a brochure inside the letter. The 4-panel brochure detailed the high technology rides that were built relatively recently, including several wooden roller coasters and a Ferris wheel.

"Free tickets for a carnival just a few miles from Manehattan!", she said happily, "Tomorrow's the weekend, can we go?"

Applejack couldn't believe that somehow, 9 tickets for free admission had just happened to make their way to her home. That was nearly 300 bits worth of admission fees, if not more depending on the pricing scheme of the park. Perhaps they offered free admission and then trapped the ponies with extremely high food and drink prices. Regardless of whether or not the offer was real and honest, something had to be up, and taking a whole weekend that could be spent doing other chores to potentially walk face-first into a scam was the last thing Applejack wanted to do.

"Apple Bloom." she said, "Don't ya know that if somethin' sounds too good to be true, it probably is?"

"Awww, but Applejack!" complained her little sibling, knowing that she was saying no to the request, "It's nine whole tickets, we shouldn't waste 'em!"

"That's what I'm worried about." Applejack continued, frowning, "These tickets are free, but it's gonna cost a lot of money to be at the park. The food's going to cost a hoof and a leg."

"No it ain't." explained Apple Bloom, pointing to the brochure, "There's a lunch menu right here, says a meal costs about 4 bits. It comes with a drink too."

Applejack's eyebrows raised as she dragged the brochure in front of her face and read the pricing of the food and drink in the park.

"_What? How do these folks make money?_" she wondered, noting how the food cost more or less the same as any resident of Ponyville had to pay for lunch out.

"We don't have to play any games." said Apple Bloom, begging, "I just want to ride the roller coasters with my friends. I was gonna invite Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle."

"Weeeell..." said Applejack, trying to decide.

At that moment, Granny Smith and Big Macintosh entered the kitchen, having overheard the conversation.

"Pleeeeease?" pleaded Apple Bloom, giving her sister the biggest puppy dog eyes a young pony could give.

"We still have a bit to do this weekend." declared Applejack, trying to get out of it.

"I say you should go." spoke up Granny Smith, "When I was young we took a few days out of the year to go to the fair, and dang nab-it it was the best time of my foalhood! Sure they have all these fancy rides and doohickeys nowadays, but it's the same thing, a good memory!"

"Eeyup!" added Big Macintosh, trying to encourage his sister to cave in.

"Oh, ok." surrendered Applejack, laughing, "But it's 9 whole tickets, and I know you two probably don't want to go. How are we gonna use them all?"

"Well since it's over by Manehattan, maybe we can get Babs to come along!" suggested Apple Bloom, "Ahm sure she'd love it!"

"That's a great idea. Of course, in order to get a message to her within a day, we'd better have Twilight send it over with her spells." she said, "Let's see if we can go find her at the library and then round up your friends."

"Yay!", cheered Apple Bloom, "I'll go get 'em."

She ran out of the door of the farmhouse with Applejack shortly behind her. She turned around before exiting her home with a slightly concerned look at her grandmother.

She answered, "You're only young once, Applejack, I would know! Have a good time."

Applejack decided to try and push out her mistrust and give her sister a good memory of spending time at the carnival with her older sister.

* * *

Getting a hold of Twilight hadn't been very hard at all, she was exactly where Apple Bloom expected her to be, muzzle first in a good adventure novel on the first floor of the library. Techorse had joined her for an afternoon of reading and lampooning the unrealistic events of the book if any happened to be in the story. The two sat on a soft floor rug together, side by side as they turned the pages of the adventure story. It seemed to be a fair trade, one teleported letter to Bab's parents mailbox in exchange for two of the nine tickets. Of course, amusement parks weren't either of their favorite things to do, but being able to go with friends made it a far more attractive option.

When Apple Bloom had returned with her two friends, Rainbow Dash and Rarity had managed to accompany them. Rarity had joined under the premise of wanting to watch her sister, she absolutely did not like amusement park rides at all, but she also did not like the idea of Sweetie Belle managing to get herself lost in a large theme park, and the thought of the drama scared her. Almost an exact opposite, Rainbow Dash was thrilled to accompany Scootaloo as her mentor and ride as many insane roller coasters and thrill rides as she could get her hooves on!

This had brought the total up to the nine tickets available for free. Applejack carefully observed all of her friends present, and began to wonder why there were exactly nine tickets available in the first place. Nine wasn't exactly a very "nice" number, typically that should be rounded off to ten in her mind. All of this seemed very suspicious, but she didn't want to call the entire trip off over a bit of worry.

A word from Twilight interrupted her thoughts, "All right everypony, with Spike and PAL staying for the weekend at Tech's castle, and all other things settled, we should be able to take the train over to Manehattan. The amusement park is just a few miles outside of the city, so we'll just take a cart from there."

"This is gonna be cool!" cheered Rainbow Dash, "We're going to ride all the roller coasters!"

"I don't know what's so much fun about strapping yourself into a metal cart." scoffed Rarity, "It sounds like it'd make you quite sick."

"It's fun!" protested an annoyed Rainbow Dash, "Not all of them are that extreme, anyways. I'm sure there'll be one for you, Rarity."

"We'll have to see." she answered.

"Oh come on, will you please ride one with me?" begged Sweetie Belle of her older sister, giving her a pleading look, "I'll pick a milder one, promise."

"All right, just as long as I have a chance to recover from it." agreed Rarity, "I'll need a drink out in the sun there."

"Well there's plenty of nice drinks available, luckily!" Apple Bloom announced, passing the brochure over to Rarity.

The unicorn lifted the paper up with a levitation spell and read over the choices of cold drinks while Scootaloo craned her neck to try and read the park map on the other side.

"Wow, they're open until ten!" she mused, "That's plenty of time to try everything."

While the other ponies continued to chatter about the wonders of their trip ahead, Applejack asked Twilight,

"Are we ever gonna get going? Or are we just gonna talk about the park?"

Twilight laughed at the statement, "Maybe not."

"We can finish reading on the way." said Rainbow Dash, grabbing the map from Rarity with her teeth, making her smack her lips in disgust at the act.

* * *

Twilight locked the library door behind them as they left for the train station to begin the trip over to Manehattan. It'd end up being an overnight ride, but with any luck that would provide enough time for Babs' family to make a decision as to whether or not she could join her cousin and her friends for the day. It was a rather long trip for just one day at the park, but the friends had planned on being there from opening to closing time, and then catching the late night train back to arrive in Ponyville at the end of the last afternoon of the weekend.

Each of them had brought a small overnight bag for the trip, and had gotten settled into their passenger car rooms as the train pulled from the station.

"I love train rides." said Techorse as he jumped up onto his small cot in the stateroom, "The motion puts you right to sleep."

"Nopony's going to be able to sleep tonight." groaned Applejack as she listened in on her sister and her friends' constant talking in anticipation of tomorrow.

"I'm excited too!" said Rainbow Dash, "But we'll be beat tomorrow if we don't sleep, so maybe I'll be able to convince those three to calm down a bit."

"That'd be appreciated. We don't want to be kept up." said Twilight, frowning at them starting to jump up and down on their beds.

Applejack really couldn't stand holding back her thoughts, and spoke up to the three other ponies facing her in the stateroom,

"Look, as much as y'all think this is gonna be fun." she said slowly, "Those tickets we got for the park came for free in a letter Apple Bloom got this mornin'. There's something a little weird about all of this."

Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and hovered in the middle of the car, then rolled her eyes at Applejack, "Oh come on, don't be such a buzzkill Applejack. It's probably just a big advertising thing, right?"

Techorse tried to offer Applejack a little consolation, turning over a hoof, "It's a common marketing strategy. You offer things for free in hopes that later the same ponies will return as paying customers later."

"It's true." said Rarity, "I see some of my favorite shops employ the same idea. Why just this week, didn't Pinkie Pie hand out coupons for a free cookie at Sugarcube Corner? It made the rest of the cookies sell quite well."

"That makes sense." admitted Applejack, scratching her forehead, "I've just never heard of a business that offers that much free stuff. One cookie ain't much. Nine tickets per letter is."

The train made a small turn in the tracks, setting the friends slightly off balance as they continued to talk.

Twilight took the slight disturbance as a chance to think, and admitted, "You know, giving away nine free prices of admission is a little weird. I'm going to keep my eyes open, and if something seems to go wrong, we can just go to the city and spend the day there. If you're right Applejack, and this is a scam of some kind, we can just walk away."

Applejack nodded, "I'm just saying something might be funny here. If there's no problem, we should stay! Everypony seems to love the idea of this trip, and I don't wanna ruin it."

"Well still, if it looks like they're trying to get a lot of bits out of us, we'll leave." said Rainbow Dash, landing back on the floor, "We're not gonna get scammed."

Applejack smiled, happy that her gut feeling had been taken into consideration.

* * *

The night fell over the train a few hours later, and the more tired young adults had gone to bed, leaving Apple Bloom and her friends the only ones awake in the room over. They were still in awe at the oversized pamphlet under the sheet of one of the cots, using a small lamp Techorse had provided them for light. Each of them pointed out things they wanted to do the next day, rides, games, and all sorts of activities. After all, it wasn't often that they got out of Ponyville to do something like this.

"We've got to try that roller coaster." said Scootaloo, pointing an orange hoof at a yellow-colored ride on the map, "It has loops!"

"Definitely!" added Sweetie Belle, "Do you girls think we'll be tall enough to get on though?"

"Aw, shoot." exclaimed Apple Bloom, "I didn't think about that. I hope we aren't too short for most of the rides."

"Yeah, me too, I am not dressing the three of us up in a trench coat so we can get on." declared Scootaloo, "We'd probably fall."

"Don't worry, we'll ride plenty of rides with Babs." said Apple Bloom, "There's gotta be plenty to do."

Apple Bloom felt a poke through the covers, and she removed the sheets from their heads. Techorse had come in to check up on them.

"Hey, it's getting really late." he reminded them softly, "You'll be too tired for tomorrow if you don't get some sleep soon. All the others are already sleeping."

"Sorry Tech, we're just so happy to be going on this trip." whispered Sweetie Belle, "We'll be quiet now."

Techorse left them alone again to go back to his bed. No sooner had he retreated, did the three fillies dive under the blanket again to go back over the map.

* * *

The train reached the station at eight in the morning, pulling in and blasting on its horn, waking up most of the riders on board and startling those still groggy on the benches outside.

Rarity lifted her heavy head from her cot and pulled a black felt sleeping mask off of her face, "Oh, we're here already?"

"Yep!" shouted Applejack, already wearing her favorite stetson hat, "Been up since 6, packed everythin' up in the bags for us. We'll leave em here in storage and the conductors will load us up for the train back at midnight tonight!"

"Thank you very much, Applejack." said Rarity with gratitude, stepping out from her cot daintily, "Are the others awake?"

"Well, as awake as they're gonna be!" laughed Applejack, pointing at her sister and friends, who were barely able to crawl out of bed.

"Oh no, they stayed up all night, didn't they?" gasped Rarity, putting a hoof to her mouth, "Sweetie Belle needs her beauty sleep as much as I do!"

"They'll sleep on the way back, come on now!" assured Applejack, pointing for the door towards the front of the train, "Let's get moving!"

Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle managed to haul themselves off of the train, and looked through the crowd to find Babs Seed. They found the brown mare sitting by herself on a bench near the back of the train station. When she saw them, she smiled and ran up to Apple Bloom, giving her a big hug.

"Hi cousin!" she said excitedly, "Good to see you again!"

Over the course of the robot invasion, the Cutie Mark Crusaders had been sent back to Manehattan in hopes of protecting them from the teleporter cannon armed machines roaming the land. Babs Seed was originally a rather snarky character towards her cousin and her friends, but it was mostly due to a large amount of self-consciousness over not having her cutie mark yet. When the robots inevitably attacked the metropolis and the city was being invaded, Babs successfully managed to lure a robot into falling off of the balcony of her parents' condo, sending the machine down ten stories to its inevitable destruction in a fireball. This act that had saved her family and the Cutie Mark Crusaders from being captured led to her becoming a member of Apple Bloom's club, and had helped her to overcome her poor self esteem. Now they were great friends and family, meaning Babs was more than happy to join them for a fun day at the carnival.

"Hello Babs!" said Applejack, approaching them, "Glad you could make it!"

"Hey Applejack, we're gonna ride everything, right?" she said, "This'll be a day to remember!"

"Of course!" answered Applejack, rearing up on her hind legs, "I'm so happy your folks were ok with you joinin' us!"

Babs answered, "No problem, they wanted a day to themselves."

"Come on ponies!" urged Rainbow Dash, galloping for the exit of the train station, "Let's get going so the lines don't get so long."

"I couldn't agree more!" stated Twilight as she chased after her friend, with Techorse soon behind.

"Oh hey, who's the green fella?" asked Babs as she trotted alongside her cousin and her friends.

"That's Techorse." answered Apple Bloom, "We call him Tech. He's the pony who helped my sister and her friends stop those machines!"

"Really? I didn't know he lived in Ponyville with you guys, from the stories told about him I thought he was a royal guard, or something."

"Nope." answered Sweetie Belle, "He's a great guy though."

"I'm sure of it. Now come on, the taxi's waiting." said Babs, encouraging her friends to gallop for the yellow painted cart.

* * *

The cab was pulled by four strong stallions, who pulled it along a long, smoothly paved road out away from the sprawling city of Manehattan, towards the open countryside. It was a 45 minute ride out to the carnival grounds, and the three fillies were looking out of the windows of the cab eagerly to get a look at the destination they had been dreaming of.

It was a very large theme park, stretching at least two miles wide on each side, with several wooden roller coasters painted different colors touching the sky. A Ferris wheel and a few other smaller attractions dotted the large open park, and many red and yellow striped tents filled the grounds, selling food and drink to the park's patrons. It was a great day for visiting an amusement park, being somewhat warm, with only a few clouds in the sky to block the sun on occasion.

The group of friends hopped out of the cart, and Techorse paid the taxi fare, curiously noticing how little it cost for the distance of the trip. Applejack wondered the same thing as they headed for the large silver entrance gates in front of the park grounds. When they reached the ticket booths, Applejack removed the free tickets from under her hat, and placed them in front of the unicorn mare working the entrance gate with a bored expression on her face. As she ushered them in, Applejack noticed that the other ponies at the amusement park were having to pay for their entrance. Now her worries about something being wrong returned.

"_We're the only ones who got mailed free tickets?_" she wondered, "_That's awful strange._"

However, when she saw the beaming expressions on her friends' faces, she knew she couldn't turn them away now, and the nine entered the amusement park. It seemed to be a dream come true for the younger ponies, and Rainbow Dash seemed equally excited.

"Let's get in line for the roller coasters right now!" she shouted, "I wanna be first on that huge yellow-painted one over there, come on!"

She galloped off away from her friends, with Apple Bloom and company struggling to keep up.

"We've let loose a bull in a china shop!" laughed Rarity.

"One bull and three calves." added Twilight, noting Scootaloo nearly knocking over a stallion on her way to the roller coaster.

The four remaining ponies walked to the middle of the carnival grounds, passing stands selling balloons, fried food, and offering games to win prizes.

"Well, what should we do sweetie?" asked Techorse, looking at Twilight, "It seems like everyone's splitting up. Maybe we should go find a ride."

"I'm not sure." she answered, giving him a happy look, "I wonder if they have a mirror maze. I love those!"

Applejack and Rarity looked around the four way intersection of the carnival, and spotted a water ride with a large, red, heart-shaped sign over it.

"_Tunnel of Love_" it read, sending a rather interesting idea into their minds.

The two mares looked backward at the couple, and then back to each other, before they both gave a knowing grin.

Techorse suddenly realized that there was a sharp tug on his brown tail, and he was being dragged backwards. Twilight also felt a similar pull, and looked at her back to discover Rarity's magic surrounding the base of her fantail cut.

"Hey!" she asked with a confused tone, "Rarity, what are you doing?"

"We found the perfect thing for you and Techorse!" she answered, giving her a sly look.

"Really, what?" asked Techorse, looking at his tail in Applejack's mouth.

The two ponies looked up at the sign for the ride ahead. They then gave each other an abject look of horror before attempting to escape the grasp of their friends. Twilight dug her front hooves into the dirt ground, and Techorse's robotic arms stuck out and grabbed the road, sending up sparks in a futile attempt to stop himself from being stuffed into the most horrible ride ever.

"Oh relax!" said Rarity, "You two will enjoy this as mare and colt friends!"

"_But it's sooooo corny!_" cried Twilight Sparkle.

"Rarity, Applejack, I will give you each ten bits to let us go!" pleaded Techorse, "Please!"

But nothing they could possibly stay would stop Applejack and Rarity from stuffing the couple into one of the blue-painted rafts in the water canal at the start of the slow ride. A metal bar sat in front of them so they would not fall out of the L-shaped boat, and red cushions protected their heads from behind. Although they weren't crammed and were sitting on their hind legs, it would still be hard for them to jump out without landing in the water. A nearby operator pegasus threw a switch, detaching them from the dock and sending them towards the mouth of the tunnel.

"Enjoy you two!" cried out Applejack, putting a hoof to the side of her mouth, "We'll meet at the restaurants later, ya hear?"

The small boat entered the tunnel, and Techorse and Twilight looked at each other. The lighting was bright enough to allow them to see each other, and the flowing of the water was rather soothing.

"Well... I guess we should make the best of this." sighed Techorse, looking at Twilight.

"Yeah." she answered, "It's good to be here with you, Techorse."

She stared back into his blue eyes with a very loving look.

"I love you." she said, leaning in towards him.

"I love you too, Twilight." he answered, moving in to meet her.

They kissed for a moment, lips locked on the ride, despite their earlier complaints about it, and then settled back into the boat. The camera attached to the wall of the ride then flashed spectacularly, nearly blinding the two.

"I knew there'd be a camera!" shouted Twilight, pointing at the device.

Techorse shook his head, "Good thing we kissed then. We almost ended up on display!"

A thought then occurred to him, "Although you know, since it's over..."

Twilight caught his drift and rolled her eyes, "Oh, all right!"

She then closed her eyes and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, just in time for the _second_ camera in the tunnel to go off and catch them in the act. When the unicorn mare pulled away, her eyes grew wide as she realized what had just happened.

"_OH, __COME ON!_" she shouted, groaning.

Techorse buried his face in a metal arm, "It's going to be a long day, isn't it?"

When they exited the tunnel and docked back at the entrance of the ride, they exited the raft and walked over with grim expressions on their faces to the photo stand. An earth pony stallion, tan in color and wearing a black baseball cap, looked through the photos and pushed a large copy over to the two. The frame showed Twilight and Techorse, eyes closed, with Twilight's nose nuzzling Techorse's cheek. It was probably the best frame possible out of her quick kiss.

"It's a little cute." admitted Techorse, "I think I want it."

"Either way, thank you for not displaying these." said Twilight with relief.

"Oh it's company policy to not do that!" he answered, laughing, "Can you imagine how many customers would leave the park if we gave these out?"

Techorse handed over a few gold bits, and tucked the large print of the photo into the storage compartment on his battle saddle.

"Let's go find Applejack and Rarity and get some 'payback'." he said, smiling.

"Let's!" answered the lavender mare, offering him her tail.

They twisted their tails around each other and walked away from the photo stand, leaving the operator grinning and shaking his head. He was well aware that those two had been forced onto the ride.

* * *

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo had crammed themselves into the front car of the _Gemstone__ Raider_, the yellow-painted roller coaster they had so longed to ride. It had turned out that all of the Cutie Mark Crusaders had managed to be just tall enough to ride the new machine, and the blue cars with yellow lightning bolts embroidered with gems on the sides climbed the one hundred foot tall wooden structure leading to the top of the coaster.

"Hey, Rainbow Dash, you can fly way faster than this." noted Scootaloo, "How come these roller coasters are so exciting?"

"You know how hard it is to do all these turns without spinning out of control?" answered Rainbow Dash, "That's what makes these things so good! They do all the turning for you!"

In the car behind them, the other three members of the CMC were stuffed side by side into the small car, waiting for the drop. Sweetie Belle looked extremely nervous about the sudden dip ahead on the huge track, and the heights frightened her as she looked down at the seemingly distant ground below.

"Hey, it's all right!" said Babs, waving a hoof, "We've got these seat belts and bar on us. We ain't gonna fall."

"I hope not." she said, swallowing hard, "I don't want to be mushed."

"You won't be mushed." answered Apple Bloom, getting harsh, "Stop being such a scaredy mane!"

The cart cleared the apex of the structure, and the train plunged at several miles per hour down the tracks, making the passengers scream as it weaved and ran quickly around the twists and turns of the ride.

"_Wooooooooooooo!_" screamed Rainbow Dash, who then burst out laughing as she stuck her front legs up in the air.

The train then plunged into a nearby hole in the ground, a feat of engineering allowed the carts to run through a carved-out cave section featuring a few exposed geodes. Although a slower part of the ride, the view was amazing, and Sweetie Belle seemed to enjoy it much more than the initial plunge. When the ride re-emerged from the cave and pulled into the entrance station, the bars were let up, and the five exited the ride.

"See, that wasn't so bad." said Apple Bloom, pulling her friends out of the carts.

"Can we go again?" asked an eager Sweetie Belle.

"Sure!" answered Rainbow Dash, "Let's hurry up and get back in line before it gets too long!"

* * *

An hour later, the friends had all gathered in the food court on the carnival grounds to take a break for lunch. Rainbow Dash hadn't even broken a sweat yet from running around to the various rides with the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who were somewhat tired from the trip from attraction to attraction. The nine had gathered around a large wooden picnic table and had a look over the various stands filled with different confections. There were funnel cakes, veggie dogs, and all sorts of fried vegetables available. One large drink stand was in the middle of the box shaped setup of food stands, and on top of it, a large plastic blue cup with a straw poked out to show everyone present the way to cold drinks.

"Let's get some drinks first." suggested Applejack, "All this runnin' arounds' making me thirsty."

"Then go ahead and get us some drinks!" said Rainbow Dash, who was immediately shot a nasty look by Rarity for not offering to help carry them.

Twilight and Applejack left the picnic table and approached the drink stand. Once they had reached the front of the line, the server, a unicorn stallion with a red paper hat, looked over them carefully.

"Hi, we'd like nine sodas, please!" asked Twilight, "Whatever you've got is fine."

"Sure." answered the worker, stepping back for a second.

He looked at a picture he had inside his work station, clearly of Applejack, and then looked back at her and Twilight. Rather than giving them sodas, he poured them nine drinks in blue cups containing some kind of odd serum, and gave them to the thirsty mares in two cardboard carrying containers. Twilight thanked the stallion, paid for the drinks, and began to carry back both trays to the table using her magic.

"Oh thank goodness, I was parched!" sighed Rarity as she saw her friends bringing the soft drinks to the table.

The cups were passed around, and the friends began to drink the cool, refreshing soda, when Apple Bloom made a request.

"Would you mind if me and the girls went to look for lunch somewhere else?" she said, "There's nothin' good here, but there's a loaded hay fries stand down the way."

"All right, but be back here in fifteen minutes." answered Applejack sternly, "I don't want any of ya getting lost in here."

"Let's go, girls!" said Apple Bloom, jumping down from the table with her friends. They took their drinks with them in small cupholders that fitted at their sides, a neat little invention present at the fairgrounds. Once they were a few minutes away from the other ponies, however, they began to notice something a little strange about themselves.

Sweetie Belle yawned and said, "Oh wow, I'm a bit tired from all that exercise."

"You know somethin', me too!" added Babs, "But we've only been here for a few hours."

Scootaloo had already curled up in a ball in a small blue tent nearby, but off the main path.

"Scootaloo, you gotta stay up." said Apple Bloom, her own eyes getting heavy, "Otherwise we'll never be able to stay..."

The other three fillies tried to get Scootaloo awake, but they soon were all fast asleep inside the small tent. A bit away from them on the other side of the fairground, the workers had already cleared the sleeping ponies and whisked them away for detainment.

* * *

Apple Bloom slowly opened her big eyes, no longer tired and heavy from whatever had been put in the drinks. Getting up slowly, she nudged her friends and cousin, asleep side by side in the tent. It seemed cold out now, a stark contrast to the warm weather that was supposed to be happening at the amusement park that day. The others slowly woke up, and followed Apple Bloom outside of the tent, where their mouths fell open in horror. It was pitch dark outside, the rides had ground to a halt, and the stars were out overhead, only occasionally being hidden by clouds.

"Oh no!" shouted Apple Bloom, "We must've slept through the entire day!"

"But how?" cried Sweetie Belle, "Oh, I knew we should have slept like the older ponies warned us!"

"Now wait a minute." reasoned Babs Seed, stepping in front of her panicking friends, "There's no way a little nap was gonna take up an entire day. We were knocked out!"

"What?" gasped Scootaloo.

Apple Bloom looked over her shoulder and saw one of the cups they had been drinking from earlier. She moved over to the container while her friends talked over the situation, and her nose wrinkled as she sniffed the residue of the drink carefully.

"I think this was a sleepin' potion." she said.

"How do you know?" asked Scootaloo as she and the others moved up to inspect the cup.

"It smells like one of the sleeping aid potions Zecora makes from time to time to sell to ponies who can't sleep so well." she answered, "She gave me one once, and it smells the same as this soda pop."

"But if that's right, that means the others fell asleep too!" gasped Sweetie Belle in horror.

The friends made a run through the darkness of the night, trying not to trip over garbage dropped by careless carnival patrons as they headed for the food court. When they got there, they found 6 overturned soda cups, one rolling around on the dirt floor from the cold breeze.

"They've been ponynapped." said Babs, her tail flicking in rage, "No way they left us here at closing."

Scootaloo looked at the drink stand and moved over to it to see if she could find any clues or evidence of sleeping potions. Instead what she found was a clock that read 11 PM.

"Girls!" she shouted, running back to her friends, "It's eleven at night already. Doesn't the train leave at midnight? If we don't hurry up, we're going to miss it!"

"But the train's fourty minutes away." reminded Apple Bloom, "We can't get there in time now. I just want to save Applejack!"

"Actually, we can get back." thought Sweetie Belle aloud, "We'll just have Twilight Sparkle do that weird teleporting spell she does, and we'll all instantly get to the train station."

"So if we find the other ponies, we can get home!" said Scootaloo, giving the others a determined look.

"My parents said I could spend the week in Ponyville." added Babs, "So once we get outta here, I'll be going back with you!"

"But I don't think we can." sighed Apple Bloom, "There's just four of us, and we don't even know where to start."

But Babs wouldn't take this attitude from her cousin and said to her, "Hey now, you're an Apple, cousin. You're strong enough to take this! Think of all the other stuff you've guys have pulled through."

Apple Bloom gathered her courage, stood up tall, and straightened the overly large bow in her red hair. She smiled and knew that she and her friends could take on the task as a team.

"Well, looks like we've got our work cut out for us girls!" said Apple Bloom, "We have to rescue our family and friends. Come on Cutie Mark Crusaders, we can do this!"

They put their hooves together in a triumphant gesture before searching around the table area for clues. It appeared to be that one of the cups had been dragged a considerable distance, and blue drips of sleeping potion formed a trail down one of the dirt paths. Although it was dark out and there were very few security lights, the moonlight and starlight illuminated the park enough for decent vision.

"There's a trail leading this way, let's go!" said Babs, "We'll follow it and hopefully find them."

* * *

Twilight hated being hung upside down. The blood rushing to her head made her thoughts churn and her cheeks blush bright red. Unfortunately, she found herself tied by her hind legs to a rope from the ceiling, and couldn't quite reach the knot keeping them in place. She and her friends were being held captive inside the repair shed of the carnival, a massive wooden and concrete structure that on the inside resembled a graveyard of rusty ride parts and decommissioned carts and trains. The dark, eerie nature of the three-story tall garage made being tied to the railing on the first floor a scary circumstance to find oneself in. Even a six foot drop to the floor wasn't so fun if it meant taking a sharp hit to the head. The concrete floor of the repair shed certainly didn't look very forgiving, and the lack of appropriate lighting save for a few small tubular trouble lights in the shed didn't help improve the atmosphere.

Twilight swung back and forth on the rope, gaining momentum. Her friends, still unconscious, hung from their legs on separate ropes. If she could get free, she could use some spells to untie them one at a time and gently hover them down to the floor with some effort. The unicorn gained enough momentum to lean her head up at the rope, and fired off a short bolt of energy from her horn. The small beam hit the rope and fried that section immediately, dropping Twilight towards the floor. She realized her mistake quickly, and spent a large amount of energy to perform a gravity slow on her own legs, forcing her descent into a much gentler bump into the floor below. After regaining her footing, Twilight gave herself a few minutes to catch her breath and wipe the sweat from her brow, evidence of expending lots of her energy on the complex gravity magic. Once she had recovered, she removed the remaining rope from her rear hooves, and brought her other friends down safely, who soon awoke.

"Wh... what happened to us?" asked Rainbow Dash, who stood up and scratched the back of her head.

"We were drugged." growled Twilight, "That stupid soda jerk was probably playing a prank on us."

"What? A prank? This isn't funny, it's late at night and we might miss our train back!" shouted Rarity, "I demand to know who's responsible for this outcry! I want a manager!"

The lights inside the shed suddenly turned on, forcing the friends to squint until their eyes adjusted to the bright white light. The supposed scrap metal inside the shed turned out to be a big machine processing a large number of chemicals, churning out small doses in pink pills the size of bottle caps. It was a large and mostly boxy machine, with gold decorations on the front of the red device. Two large chemical vials, containing red and blue liquid, sat on either side of the machine, and a large mysterious central crater in the device sat between the two.

"What? I do believe we have a dissatisfied customer, brother!" called a voice from above.

"Indeed!" came a chuckling response, "Let's see what we can do about that."

"Oh no, I know who that is." groaned Applejack, tilting her hat over her eyes.

A mechanical platform descended from the repair scaffolding above, and on it's center were none other than the Flim Flam brothers. Flam, the mustachioed of the pair, flipped a switch on the controls to stop the platform from completely crashing into the floor. The two stepped off the device, adjusted their straw hats, and approached the five ponies.

"What do you want?" demanded Applejack, "And why the hay did you have us tied up?"

"Allow us to explain." said Flim, smiling broadly, "We bought this theme park, and have turned it into quite the business!"

"Translation, you cheated the previous owners out of the place and have turned it into a tourist trap. Which is why we were the only ones who got free and cheap stuff." said Twilight, scraping her hoof on the concrete.

"I wouldn't say cheated..." coughed Flam, "We just managed to get a really good deal, I'd say!"

"Well anyways, what scam do you have up your sleeves this time?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Glad you asked!" answered Flim, pointing to the chemical plant behind them, "This machine runs off of only the best steam devices we could make!"

"Steam?" asked Techorse, "That's... a bit primitive."

"Funny you think you could do better!" laughed Flam.

"I can, and I have." said Techorse, extended his robot arms and crossing them in front of himself, tapping his left front leg with an impatient finger, "As a fellow inventor, I don't really care about the fact that you two use steam. But I absolutely don't like that you two are a pair of con artists."

"Con artists? Such harsh terms, brother!" laughed Flim.

Flam answered, "We're aspiring salesponies!"

"Scammers and thieves." said Techorse, "You tried to steal my friend Applejack's farm."

Techorse was testing to see how far he could go before he turned the brothers' laughter into anger, where they might make a mistake that would give them the upper hoof in the situation. Twilight picked up on this, and waited for her own opportunity to strike. The odds were five to two in their favor.

"Well, regardless, our device produces potions that controls ponies' mind, making them want to buy more and more things." declared Flim, walking over to the machine and tapping on it gently, "We'll put them in the drinks, and we'll rake in the bits! Best of all, the customers will be getting things for their money!"

"The food's not bad, the drinks aren't bad, and as you've seen, the rides are excellent!" continued Flam, "It'll make millions!"

"So you're forcing ponies to buy things with mind altering potions?" gasped Twilight at the shock of such an abuse, "Do you realize how wrong that is?"

"What part of millions of bits don't they get, my brother?" asked Flim, "Enough to justify a little subtle persuasion!"

"Well, forget how your stupid scam works." yelled Rainbow Dash, jumping into the air and hovering with her wings, "I wanna know why you've kept us here, other than to brag your flanks off at us."

"You're not going to hurt us are you?" said Rarity with horror in her voice.

The brothers looked at each other before laughing tremendously and rolling around on the ground.

"She's serious!" grunted Techorse, lowering his head.

Twilight looked at him and wondered if he was going to fly into one of his "justice rants" and end up harming the Flim Flam brothers.

The two got up from the floor and picked up their hats from the ground with their magic, replacing them on their heads.

"Hurt you? How barbaric! We wanted to make you a deal!" said Flim, "We'll give this amusement park right back to the old owners, in exchange for Applejack's farm."

"So ya wanted revenge on me and my friends?" asked Applejack, so angry she could spit, "You'll never get me to turn over my farm!"

"But you must!" said Flam, giving her an evil smile, "If you don't, you'll have to live with the fact that you all know this place is taking good cold cash from ponies, and we're rolling in all that dough!"

"We know you're so honest you'll never be able to sleep at night knowing that!" added Flim, trying not to burst out laughing at how rich the situation was, "We'll also make sure to swing by Ponyville and start handing out more and more free tickets to your friends, so you can watch them all flock to our establishment!"

Applejack felt defeated, knowing that if she didn't turn over her farm, the brothers would scam every last pony she knew, and steal millions of bits from others in short periods of time. It was too much to bear, and she knew she'd have to quit. She tried not to cry and show her strongest as she sighed heavily and answered,

"All right, I'll give you the farm."

"No!" shouted Rainbow Dash, "There's five of us, and two of them! Let's kick their tails and force them to give back this place!"

"Uh oh, they figured it out brother." said Flim, turning to Flam, "I just knew they'd see our little numbers problem here."

"No matter!" smiled his brother, tilting his hat, "We still have the Ultra Chem Master!"

Rainbow Dash flew downwards in hopes of tackling the brothers and aimed to impact between them for a sharp blow on the sides. But Flim and Flam jumped out of the way, and landed inside a compartment between the large colored vials on the machine. Loud hissing noises escaped as the machine roared to life, its steam engine pumping pistons on the back. Two massive legs with both a forward and reverse joint made of solid red colored steel emerged from underneath the machine, propping it up high into the air. A pair of chemical injectors emerged from the sides, one arm featuring a twisted mess of hoses and a large silver nozzle, with the other simply being a large three-barreled chemical blaster that fizzed and bubbled at the ends. The ponies all looked up in all at the giant factory device turned combat robot.

"Maybe steam's not so primitive after all..." said Techorse, grinning sheepishly at Twilight.

"We can stop them." assured Applejack, noticing a rope in the corner, "Just give me a little cover!"

Applejack made a run for the rope in the far corner of the vast garage, while Techorse switched to his laser cannons and opened fire on the machine, aiming for the two injectors.

Laser bolts flew across the room and struck hard into the front of the machine, burning away metal and tearing away the gold swirls on the front. Flim and Flam worked together on the controls to walk forward, and shot a stream of sticky goop from the left arm at Techorse, who rolled out of the way as the caustic potion ingredient fizzed on the ground.

Rarity and Twilight joined together to provide additional magic support while Techorse let his saddle cool. Twilight initiated with a magic missile from her horn, aiming for the middle of the machine's right leg. An elongated bolt of purple energy left her horn and flew straight through the air before exploding on the limb, stripping the armor off of the third joint and sending a spray of sparks into the air. Rarity had happened to notice a series of embroidered gems on the side of one of the roller coaster carts in the garage, and pulled off several gemstone shards with her own magic before turning around and firing them telekenetically at the machine. Gemstone struck and burrowed into the right injector on the machine, scrapping one of the three barrels and forcing the Chem Master to dump some of its fluid onto the floor.

Flam activated the remaining two barrels, and twin streams of pink fluid twisted in a helix, splattering all over Twilight and Rarity, who were drenched in chemicals. They seemed to be harmless, save for the fact that the mares couldn't see with it running into their eyes.

"Oh this is going to stain!" cried Rarity, struggling to get free as she attempted to clean her face.

Rainbow Dash had seen this as an opening though, and flew down on top of the machine, cracking the glass dome the brothers were in with her hooves. She also delivered a sharp kick to the blue vial, shattering it and melting the remaining armor on the left side of the machine, revealing gears, springs, and steam pipes. A perfect target for one more attack to take out the device. But before she could go for the target, the robotic arm on the left turned and sprayed her, pushing her screaming onto a wall, and sticking her in place in a mass of what looked like chewing gum.

"Not cool!" she said, which responded to by only a laugh from the brothers.

A few more laser bolts came from Tech's weapons, streaming into the open wound on the battle machine, smashing gears and breaking servos. A pipe opened up on the inside of the device, shutting down the other two barrels on the machine and leaving only the messier device for arms. Steam escaped through the opening, but Techorse had fired so many laser bolts that his saddle shut down on him, and he was given a kick by the machine, sending him into the puddle of blinding serum Twilight and Rarity were in.

That left only Applejack, who found herself having to dodge blasts of the blinding chemicals from the machine, which chased her through the warehouse. She was so close to the rope, and her plan of tripping up the machine would work if she could only reach it! However, she was unfortunate enough to get her leg stuck in a small hole in the floor, and she fell over forward, hitting the concrete hard. Flim and Flam approached in their machine, and Applejack turned over on her back, knowing she had failed.

* * *

Outside, the Cutie Mark Crusaders had observed the fight. The trail of potion drips had led them to the garage, and they currently were staring into the warehouse from a window above.

"They're in trouble, look! It's those con artists who tried to steal our farm!" gasped Apple Bloom.

"Let's get in there!" said Scootaloo, "We've got to save them!"

"But what can we do?" asked Sweetie Belle, "It's just your sister now."

"We have to try." answered Apple Bloom, "As a team!"

The four entered the warehouse through the back door, and saw the rope on the ground.

"Applejack must have been trying to use this rope to trip the robot!" said Apple Bloom, "Let's grab a piece of the rope and try! It'll be just like fighting that Gunslinger all over again!"

Each of them grabbed a piece of it with their teeth. Twilight and Rarity had finished cleaning out their eyes, and saw the four.

"Oh, you're all ok!" shouted Twilight, not thinking about it.

Flim and Flam became distracted for a second from blasting Applejack, and saw the four fillies, who smiled nervously with rope in their mouths.

"Ah, I had wondered what happened to them!" chuckled Flim, "Let's get them in on this gig too, shall we brother?"

"Let's!" answered Flam.

Another magic missile struck the back of the machine, damaging it and gaining the attention of the brothers, who turned around. Twilight's horn smoked from the powerful blast, far stronger than her traditional magic pellet that didn't feature any explosive power. Angry at the damage, the brothers forgot about Applejack and the CMC and turned to deliver another chemical blast at Twilight.

The distraction had been just enough for the Cutie Mark Crusaders to do what they had planned. They rushed forward in front of Applejack, Babs and Apple Bloom on one side, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo on the other. The thick industrial rope stretched out, and easily held against the machines' two large legs. The CMC then ran circles around the legs, tying them up like a pair of shoelaces. The machine fired another chemical blast at Twilight, who was pushed away by the combined efforts of Techorse and Rarity.

The machine's upper body spun around to face the legs again, in order to confront Applejack.

"One more chance to sign the deal!" said Flim and Flam together.

Applejack smirked and stood up, seeing her sister and her's friends success, who smiled and waved behind the machine. The ropes were tightly wrapped around the legs, but the brothers hadn't known that since they had only swiveled the machine's body.

"Not a chance!" laughed Applejack, running to the right.

Flim and Flam threw their levers, and the machine attempted a step forward. The rope held the right leg in place as it tried to lift up, sending the machine forward in a topple. The brothers yelled in surprise and fear as their device crashed to the ground, parts and bits of steam machinery flew everywhere before the steam engine blasted, destroying most of the machine save for the command cabin.

The brothers climbed out of the wreckage of their chemical plant, and hung their heads in shame. Rainbow Dash had gotten herself free at this point, and flew down, lining up alongside all her friends.

"Well, what do you two have to say for yourselves?" asked Babs.

They remained silent, shuffling back and forth on their legs.

"Oh don't think you're getting any pity." said Rainbow Dash, rolling her eyes, "You attacked us with chemicals that do who knows what?"

"The chemicals were harmless." admitted Techorse, "It was more or less as dangerous as being squirted with a water gun."

"What?" said a dumbfounded Rarity.

Twilight blushed a bit, "Well, it's true. The potion the brothers were making is called the buy-it-all potion. I've read about it in some of my chemistry and potion books. It's made from harmless ingredients that are really sticky and tough on your eyes, but they're safe to touch."

"Well I'd say that means we're not calling the royal guards on these two." said Applejack, "But I ain't done with ya yet. I want both of ya to turn this park back to the original owners. Ahm gonna find out who owned this park and write asking, so don't you dare scheme again."

"Yes..." they answered, sighing.

Techorse approached them and said to them both, "Look guys, as a fellow inventor, I have to say that you're both really good at making machines. You've just got to think about making an honest living somehow. Good inventions are great and all, but if they're tied to a legacy of greedy inventors, they're a waste of good inventing."

"We'll turn the park back over, and invent other things." said Flim slowly, "Come brother, we've lost fair and square."

Flam frowned and shook his head, "Yes, of course. Maybe we'll find something else to do for a business."

The two left out into the night with heavy heads and hearts, leaving behind the smoldering wreckage of the Chem Master.

"I wonder if they're really sorry." said Apple Bloom, "Or if they're just upset because they lost."

"Hopefully they really are sorry!" said Applejack, "Girls, what you did was very brave tonight! You've saved the farm, and maybe even us!"

The four smiled and looked at each other brightly, "We're Cutie Mark Crusader heroes!"

They all had a good laugh together, only to be interrupted by the clock in the warehouse. Twelve strokes came from the clock, and anxiety settled into their hearts.

"Oh no. Midnight." said Twilight, facehoofing, "We missed our train."

"Well, they'll keep the luggage at Ponyville." said Techorse, "I'll get us all a room in a hotel in the city, and we'll head out on the first train tomorrow morning! Babs can help us pick it out for her role in helping us!"

"I know just the place!" she said.

* * *

The team stayed in a beautiful hotel that overlooked the river near Manehattan. The view was excellent for Twilight and Techorse, who sat out on the balcony beneath the late night stars. The others had all fallen fast asleep in their beds, exhausted from the days' events."

"It's beautiful!" stated Twilight, "Thanks for springing for this, Techorse!"

He answered, "Of course."

"Do you think there's anything we could tell the princesses about this?" she wondered.

"I've got an idea!" said Applejack, barging in between them, "This all started because I felt as if something was wrong from minute one, and no pony listened to me. If somethin' sounds too good to be true, it probably is!"

"I agree." said Twilight, "From now on, let's all promise to be a bit more careful about offers we're given."

"That bein' said, I'm worn out! I'll be headin' to bed now." Applejack said, yawning as she turned inside.

Techorse and Twilight looked at each other, and kissed quickly.

Indoors, the four fillies weren't actually sleeping as Applejack thought. They were far too busy hiding under the covers with a lamp, planning out what they were going to do with the next week with Babs staying in Ponyville. They didn't need an amusement park to have a good time. All they needed was a good week, and plenty of friends to share it with.

The End


End file.
